Why the Call to Action Button is the Most Important Part of an Advisor’s Website

We all know that growing a business is hard work. It takes a lot of hours, sweat, and tears to become successful (but hopefully no blood).

The CEO of Orion Advisor Services, Eric Clarke, is always quick to remind the advisors his firm works with that the advisory business is no field of dreams. You can’t just build a website with colorful, vibrant images of beautiful people and catchy trademarked tag lines and sit back expecting people to show up and want to work with you.

Instead, it’s something as simple as a button—one that should accompany that image on the top of your site, by the way.

I know what you might be thinking. A button? That can’t be that important…

But it’s really not that crazy of an idea. Buttons don’t just hold up our websites, they hold up our pants, keep our shirts on, keep our bags shut. They’re just as useful on a website as they are in clothing.

So let’s dig in and I’ll explain why the “Call to Action” button is the most important part of an advisor’s website.

Knowing What to Do

Your website should have calls to action everywhere—on each page, on every blog—telling your visitors what you want them to do.

But today, I only want to talk about one Call to Action button. The one that should be at the top of your website, right next to that big beautiful header image. Right away, you’re telling visitors what you want them to do on your site.

Schedule a demo.

Download our investing ebook.

Call our team today.

Get a personal wealth review.

(You can use those ideas, by the way. The first four are free.)

Whatever action you want your visitor to take, that’s what your Call to Action button should say. Make it concise, make it clear, make it actionable.

The call to action gives visitors direction. Without it, your website lacks true purpose. What you want is for a visitor to engage with you, and you want to make it simple.

Let’s check out an example of a good call to action button from the Uber website.

If you’ve done any traveling or you live in a larger metropolitan area, you’ve likely used Uber. It’s like a taxi, but better. Most people who use Uber to ride only interact with the company through their mobile app.

If you go to their website, though, you’re probably looking for something more than a ride. Uber knows that, and they’ve structured the website appropriately.

Right away, you’ll notice two large green buttons, so Uber actually has two Call to Action buttons at the top of their website. They are pointing you toward their desired interaction.

One says “Become a Driver” and the other says “Sign Up to Drive.”

Both Call to Action buttons are prominent and offer a clear and short action.

There’s also another option (Ride with Uber) but Uber knows its web traffic is more likely coming to learn how to make money through them and not hail a ride, since that action is done through their mobile app and not their website.

If Uber did not place their Call to Action buttons so prominently on their front page, you would arrive at the site, look around a little, get some information, and leave. You might click on the Contact page in the site menu, but you might not, because it’s not directly giving you an action to take.

Getting the Right Look

We’ve established the purpose of a Call to Action button: to easily give visitors an action you want them to take.

Next, let’s talk about placement and visuals for your button.

Before we go any farther, I’ll start here: the button is an actual button.

It’s not text, it’s a picture of your radiant face, it’s not this hilarious gif of Shaquille O’Neal and a cat shoulder-shimmying at each other.

It is a virtual button. You need to design it as such. Usually that means some kind of rectangular shape with text inside.

If you need another reference beyond Uber, here’s the Mineral Call to Action button on our home page.

It’s very simple. It aligns with our brand colors and the message is clear. Let’s get started.

Your design needs to take colors into account. And it’s really very simple. You don’t want a blue button on a blue background (if working in this industry has taught me anything, it is that advisors love blue).

Our button is green on a white background. It’s easy to see and hard to miss. Make yours the same. If a visitor loads up your site and their eyes don’t immediately go to the Call to Action button in the first second, it’s not doing its job.

To go along with coloring, you need to get the placement right. It might take some testing to get this right. If you aren’t getting conversions out of where your button is placed right now, move it around on the page.

Put it where the eyes will naturally flow with the rest of the text on your page. Everything should be designed around leading the eyes to that button.

Placement and color aren’t the only considerations. I’ll give you just one more today. Look at the size of your button. Is it too small? Sometimes, it can be too big. The proportions should make sense within the larger overall theme of your website’s design.

Getting all the elements of a good Call to Action button can be tricky. The copy needs to offer a reason to click, the design needs to catch the eye, and the placement needs to be in the optimal spot.

With a little testing and the tips in this article, though, you can create a Call to Action button that helps create more conversions from your website.

EVENTS FOR ADVISORS

The information included herein is for informational purposes and is intended for use by advisors only, not for public distribution. Carson Group Partners offers investment advisory services through CWM, LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Carson Group Coaching and CWM, LLC are separate but affiliated companies and wholly-owned subsidiaries of Carson Group Holdings, LLC. Carson Group Coaching does not provide advisory services.